The Rollingwood City Council voted unanimously last week to submit a draft of an interlocal agreement for street repairs to Travis County for review.

“Travis County has an annual paving program,” county director of road maintenance and fleet services Don Ward told the council. “We try to do about 40 miles of paving each year, which means an inch and a half overlay done on rural roads by a contractor. It’s beneficial for small municipalities to piggyback on to this contract.”

When a smaller city enters into these agreements, they get the economy of scale provided by the large bid package from Travis County, but must pay a 10 percent fee to the county on all projects.

“Really, that’s what the auditor says we have to charge,” Ward said.

Council members had the opportunity to ask Ward questions about the city’s responsibilities and liabilities in the process. He allayed one of the greatest concerns of council members by assuring them that entering the agreement, and even sending out a project to bid did not require the city to pay anything.

The county only requires payment once the city officially accepts a bid, and then the money must be submitted up front.

“We’ll bid it out, then we’re going to send you a letter, that Travis County has accepted open bids for this work; this is the work; this is what you need to give Travis County, including 10 percent,” he said. “Then we settle out at the end if there are any overages or underages.”

According to state law, the maximum swing would be 25 percent of the agreed-upon price.

Some council members also voiced concerns of a lack of a warranty from the county, but Ward said that any contracted work would come with a warranty from the contractors. Any work, such as maintenance or sign repair, done by the county would not be guaranteed, but he said any government entity would be responsible for their work.

“I’m not trying to sell anything here,” he said. “We’ve got plenty to do without adding you guys on. In these economic times, it does provide assistance to our neighbors. You guys are in Travis County and everybody pays county benefits.”

Council members voted unanimously to send it to Travis County for review.

In other action:

• After hearing a presentation from recently appointed Utility Commission Chair Barry Bone, the City Council voted unanimously to create a water conservation task force that would “develop a comprehensive strategic and operational water conservation plan, as part of an overall water use plan to increase efficiency, conservation, and re-use of water in Rollingwood.”

• In other action, the City Council voted unanimously to implement a Capital Improvement Plan, suggested and designed by Alderman John Hinton. The plan involves several categories of projects including unscheduled, approved, and approved for anywhere from one to five years in the future. While they unanimously agreed on the plan, there was some confusion in its initial implementation when Hinton moved to put the commercial Edgegrove water line, City Hall remodel with ADA-compliant bathrooms, shade structures, and a Dellana park study on unscheduled projects when various council members felt the projects were all in different stages of approval and should be placed in different places within the plan matrix.